Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.

Charles
Joseph WHITMAN

The victims

Margaret
Whitman

Mother of Charles Whitman, who was stabbed in the chest and shot
in the back of the head in the early morning of Monday, August
1, 1966. She left behind two other sons besides Charles Whitman:
Patrick Whitman, who died of AIDS complications, and John
Michael Whitman, who was shot and killed at a bar called "Big
Daddies" in 1973 at age 24. Margaret Whitman's remains now rest
in Lake Worth, Florida, along with those of her three son

.

Margaret Whitman, as found by police

The body of Margaret Whitman

Kathleen
Whitman

23-year-old wife of Charles Whitman, Stabbed three times in the
chest while she was sleeping early Monday, August 1, 1966.

The body of Whitman's wife and the house of the mass murderer

.

Edna Townsley

Age 47. Receptionist. Divorced mother of two sons. Whitman
encountered her on the 30th floor. He bashed her head in,
probably with a rifle butt, with such force that part of her
skull was torn away, also shot her in the head. He left her
hidden behind the sofa to die.

Marguerite
Lamport

Mike and Mark Gabour, the 16- and 19-year-old sons of M.J.
Gabour, led their father, mother, aunt and uncle up to the
observation deck of the tower just as Charles Whitman was just
assembling his arsenal. He opened fire on them. M.J. Gabour
heard the guns go off as his sons, his wife and his sister, (Mrs.
Lamport), "came rolling down the stairs. Whoever did the
shooting slammed the door."

Mark
Gabour

M.J. Gabour turned his younger son over, saw he had been shot in
the head. He was dead. So was Gabour's sister. Critically
injured, his wife and his older son were bleeding profusely.
Gabour and his brother-in-law dragged their dead and wounded to
the 27th floor, sought for help but could find none.

Baby Wilson

Eight months pregnant, Mrs Wilson was walking from an
anthropology class when a bullet crashed into her abdomen; she
survived, but later gave birth to a stillborn child whose skull
had been crushed by the shot.

Thomas
Frederick Eckman

Age 19. As Whitman began shooting, Eckman threw himself onto
Claire Wilson, in a vain attempt to protect her. A bullet passed
through him and into Claire Wilson's abdomen. Thomas died at a
local hospital.

Robert Hamilton Boyer

33 years old. He was en route to a teaching job in Liverpool,
England, where his pregnant wife and two children were awaiting
him, stepped out onto the mall to head for lunch, was shot
fatally in the back.

Billy Paul Speed

23 year old Policeman. He was one of the first patrolmen on the
scene. He took cover behind the heavy, columnar stone railing at
the south end of the mall; but a bullet zinged between the
columns and killed him.

Roy Dell
Schmidt

29 years old. Electrical Repairman. He was walking toward his
truck after making a call when a bullet struck him in the
stomach and killed him.

Thomas Ashton

22 years old. Peace Corps Trainee bound for Iran. He was
strolling on the roof of the underground Computation Center when
Whitman shot him dead.

Paul Sonntag

18. Paul was a lifeguard at an Austin pool, was accompanying
Claudia Rutt ( below ). He stood up from a construction
barricade to glimpse Whitman in the tower, he said to Claudia
and a friend, Carla: "Carla! Come look, I can see him. This is
for real." He was shot immediately after finishing the last
sentence.

Claudia Rutt

18. Claudia was going for a polio shot she needed before
entering Texas Christian University. After Sonntag fell, she
moved from the baracade, and knelt beside him. Her friend Carla
tried to move her, but Claudia was struck by a bullet in the
chest.

Harry Walchuk

39. Father of six and a teacher at Michigan's Alpena Community
College. He browsed in the doorway of a newsstand after working
all morning in the college library. Died while in emergency
surgery from a gunshot wound.

ç

Thomas Karr

24 year old died on the operating table. He was walking toward
his apartment after staying up almost all night for a 10 a.m.
exam when he dropped to the pavement dying.

Karen
Griffith

17-year old daughter of Harvey Griffith, Karen also had a sister
Pamela. She was a student from Sidney Lanier High School, where
Whitman's wife, Kathy, was a teacher. She was shot in the lung
and died after a week in the hospital. Her funeral was held the
following day at Crestview Memorial Park in Wichita Falls.
Together with Kathy, she was the subject of dedication for her
school's 1967 yearbook.
Died Monday, August 8, 1966

David Gunby

A 23-year old electrical engineering student, Gunby was shot in
the lower-left back, while walking towards the University
library. During surgery to reconnect his severed small intestine,
doctors realized that Gunby's sole kidney had also been damaged
by the shooting. He later required a kidney transplant, and to
go on dialysis. He moved to Fort Worth, Texas and on November 7,
2001 announced he was stopping dialysis. He died a week later at
Harris Methodist Hospital